The two athletic duos have had their issues the past few weeks, with multiple tense backstage encounters. They looked to settle their differences in this matchup that saw the chiseled duo of Sabbatelli & Moss control the early goings.

After being tagged in by Montez Ford, Angelo Dawkins turned the momentum in his team’s favor, eventually picking up the victory after delivering an emphatic strike to the jaw of Sabbatelli.

Lars Sullivan def. Raul Mendoza

The monstrous Superstar manhandled Raul Mendoza in dominant fashion, finishing him off with his Freak Accident finisher.

Sullivan seemed primed to deliver more destruction to the fallen Mendoza after the match, but Ohno rushed the ring to make the save. Instead of engaging The Knockout Artist, Sullivan laughed off his presence before leaving the ring. As a result, the NXT Universe will have to wait until TakeOver: WarGames this Saturday to see what happens when the indestructible behemoth battles NXT’s resident KO specialist.

Moon took issue with Martinez’s less than flattering comments about her in a recent WWE.com interview. When asked about who she would pick to win the vacant NXT Women’s Title at WarGames, Martinez singled out Moon as someone she wouldn’t choose because she can’t win the big match.

Martinez certainly gave Moon all she could handle in this hard-hitting contest. The Mae Young Classic semifinalist showed why she is such a heralded in-ring competitor, taking the fight to Moon in this slugfest.

NXT’s War Goddess withstood Martinez’s onslaught, however, hitting the Eclipse to pick up the hard-fought win. Moon’s victory celebration was cut short as Nikki Cross, Peyton Royce and Kairi Sane all came out to make their presences known in a tense four-way staredown ahead of their huge Fatal 4-Way showdown at TakeOver: WarGames this Saturday on WWE Network.

However, it was hard to miss the lack of respect shown by McIntyre for his challenger’s actions over the past few weeks. Instead of confronting the titleholder himself, Almas let Vega do his dirty work, as she was the one who demanded a title opportunity for her client. Either way, Almas secured his NXT Championship opportunity in Houston this Saturday, and tonight he showed that he was capable of leaving McIntyre down for the three-count.

After being called out by the champion, Almas rushed the ring and began brawling with his opponent for this Saturday. The NXT Champion initially had the upper hand, until Vega soared through the air to try to hit a cross-body on McIntyre, only to be caught by the champion and placed down. Almas took full advantage of this distraction, taking out the titleholder’s knee as his back was turned.

The challenger proceeded to beat down McIntyre before hitting his trademark hammerlock DDT. Vega and Almas stood tall above the fallen NXT Champion, leaving many to wonder if we are getting a preview of the NXT Title’s future.